''Lady Standing at a Virginal'' is a
genre painting created by the Dutch artist
Johannes Vermeer
Johannes Vermeer ( , , see below; also known as Jan Vermeer; October 1632 – 15 December 1675) was a Dutch Baroque Period painter who specialized in domestic interior scenes of middle-class life. During his lifetime, he was a moderately succe ...
in about 1670–1672, now in the
National Gallery, London.
Description
The oil painting depicts a richly dressed woman playing a
virginal
The virginals (or virginal) is a keyboard instrument of the harpsichord family. It was popular in Europe during the late Renaissance and early Baroque periods.
Description
A virginal is a smaller and simpler rectangular or polygonal form of ha ...
in a home with a tiled floor, paintings on the wall and some of the locally manufactured
Delftware
Delftware or Delft pottery, also known as Delft Blue ( nl, Delfts blauw) or as delf,
is a general term now used for Dutch tin-glazed earthenware, a form of faience. Most of it is blue and white pottery, and the city of Delft in the Netherlands ...
blue and white tiles of a type that appear in other Vermeer works.
The identities of the paintings on the wall are not certain, according to the National Gallery, but the landscape on the left may be by either
Jan Wijnants or
Allart van Everdingen
Allaert van Everdingen (, bapt. 18 June 16218 November 1675 (buried)), was a Dutch Golden Age painter and printmaker in etching and mezzotint.
Biography
Van Everdingen was born at Alkmaar, the son of a government clerk. He and his older b ...
. The second painting, showing
Cupid holding a card, is attributed to
Caesar van Everdingen, Allart's brother. This motif originated in a contemporary
emblem
An emblem is an abstract or representational pictorial image that represents a concept, like a moral truth, or an allegory, or a person, like a king or saint.
Emblems vs. symbols
Although the words ''emblem'' and '' symbol'' are often us ...
and may either represent the idea of faithfulness to a single lover or perhaps, reflecting the presence of the virginal, the traditional association of music and love.
The painting has been dated on stylistic grounds and on the evidence of the costume. This work can be related to another Vermeer in the collection, ''
Lady Seated at a Virginal
''Lady Seated at a Virginal'' (Dutch: ''Zittende virginaalspeelster''), also known as ''Young Woman Seated at a Virginal'', is a genre painting created by the Dutch Golden Age painter Johannes Vermeer in about 1670–1672 and now in the Nation ...
'',
on a canvas of almost exactly the same size, with which it may form a pair. A recent study has shown that the
canvas for the two paintings came from the same
bolt. In addition, the ground applied to the canvas of each painting appears to be identical and also to be shared with the New York ''
Young Woman Seated at the Virginals''.
The painting is depicted in
David Hockney's 1977 oil painting ''Looking at Pictures on a Screen''.
See also
* ''
Young Woman Seated at a Virginal''
*
List of paintings by Johannes Vermeer
The following is a list of paintings by the Dutch Golden Age painter Johannes Vermeer (1632–1675). After two or three early history paintings, he concentrated almost entirely on genre works, typically interiors with one or two figures. His popul ...
*
Dutch Golden Age painting
Dutch Golden Age painting is the painting of the Dutch Golden Age, a period in Dutch history roughly spanning the 17th century, during and after the later part of the Eighty Years' War (1568–1648) for Dutch independence.
The new Dutch Republ ...
Further reading
* Structured around detailed discussion of ''Lady Standing at a Virginal''
*
References
External links
Essential Vermeer website Web page on the painting
{{ACArt
1670s paintings
Collections of the National Gallery, London
Musical instruments in art
Genre paintings by Johannes Vermeer
Portraits of women
Paintings of Cupid